We’re joining in Macmillan’s nationwide coffee morning event next Friday (only ours is a coffee afternoon – 2-4pm at Seath House) to raise funds for a great service, and especially in memory of our late chairperson, Karen Blanchflower. So there will be flour and eggs flying all next week as we conjure up the goodies.

There will be scones aplenty, sponges, fruit loaves, strawberry tarts, empire biscuits … and a stall to buy some for later. In case you haven’t used up your daily allowance of sugar and saturated fat! (This photo is from a recent happy event with strawberry tarts created by my friend Marian. I doubt there’ll be Piper Heidsieck on offer next Friday, and the coffee afternoon tarts are being created by another lovely friend, Sheila – how lucky am I to have not one but TWO friends who can make luscious strawberry tarts???)

And here’s a recipe from Jane Asher that USES NO SUGAR! I’m going to do a batch for the coffee afternoon, so that as well as raising funds for Macmillan, we’ll all be having a share of healthy stuff. I tried it with substitute ingredients (just what I had in the cupboard before going shopping – prunes for dates; cherries for cranberries; flaked almonds for seeds) and it was also very good, so I guess it’s one of those great recipes which lets you go off piste.

Ingredients

Makes 8

2 ripe bananas

75g butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla essence

75g chopped dates

75g dried cranberries

25g mixed dried seeds

150g rolled oats

Method

Slice the bananas into a bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher. Add the melted butter, dates, cranberries and seeds and mix together. Add the oats and stir well. Leave for a few minutes to allow the oats to soak up the butter, then turn into the tin and press down evenly.

Bake for 25-30 mins or until the top is beginning to brown. Divide into 8-10 pieces with a sharp knife while still warm.